Did Google Scare Customers Away From A Restaurant?
from the gotta-blame-Google dept
Everyone loves to find reasons to blame Google. E-Media Tidbits points us to the a recent story of a restaurant owner who blames Google for hurting his business. The story is a bit convoluted. Apparently, an employee at the restaurant had a brother who was accused of murder. The restaurant employee then supposedly helped his brother escape prison and was arrested. The local news coverage of the event included a mention that the guy worked at the restaurant (and a quote from the owner's wife about how he was a good employee). The problem, then, is that people searching for the name of the restaurant on Google then found the top story to be about this murder case -- and even if they knew it wasn't directly related to the restaurant, just the connection of the restaurant to a murder case turned off potential patrons. Of course, it seems again like the blame is misplaced. It's not Google's fault that this the most relevant website or that people didn't bother to realize this shouldn't impact the restaurant itself. It seems like the big problem is that the restaurant itself did little to nothing to make sure it had a decent presence in Google. In fact, E-Media Tidbits points out that within just a day of this new article appearing it has become the top result for the search, rather than the earlier article about the murder case. It's easy to blame Google for things, but that doesn't mean it's the right place to put that blame.
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She didn't know when to fold them. Google just made her mistake bigger.
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That's not Googles fault..
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BLAME GOOGLE
on the front.
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Google scare customers away from restaurant
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Google use to provide relevant results
If people are searching for the name of a restaurant and Google thinks the most relevant site is a news item that mentions the restaurant deep in the text, then that IS Google's fault. It is clearly NOT the most relevant website for those search words. Google ranked it higher than the restaurant's official website based on page rank criteria that obviously have nothing to do with relevance (but probably have something to do with Adwords). Google's search results have been getting poorer over the last few years; unfortunately, no one else's seem to be any better.
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Re: Google use to provide relevant results
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Re: Google use to provide relevant results
As for as Adwords playing into it I rally really doubt. I don't even see Adwords in my search results,(thanks to Firefox and a fabulous extension known as Adblock Plus), and I almost always get what I am looking for on the first page. I search for very random items that most search engines give me a lot of BS stuff that has nothing to do with what I typed in.
Google is the most reliable search engine I have found. There may be better out there but I haven't seen it yet.
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Re: Google use to provide relevant results
What he said!
"Google's search results have been getting poorer over the last few years; unfortunately, no one else's seem to be any better."
Try Clusty-- it's my current favorite, and still pretty good. Searching on "ceritano's restaurant" without quotes, the way most people would type it in, the top result is a page offering gift certificates. The murder story is at #2, and the article linked above is at #8, and another copy appears at #5. (With quotes, though, they're #1, #5, and #2 respectively.)
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Re: Re: Google use to provide relevant results
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However, as someone who ran a resturaunt for 5 years, I can tell you that the success of most resturaunts is repeat business (which should be unaffected by Google) and most "new customers" learn of your business through word of mouth, not Google.
AND if sales were down 30% because of the loose association with a double murder, then its probably due to media coverage other than the internet.
Point in case, a resturaunt that does not have a website is (IMHO) not likely to have a strong grasp on the way the internet/Google works anyway and are probably just looking to scapegoat somebody for their loss in sales.
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Novel idea but:
If the employee had not helped his brother escape from prison, perhaps there wouldn't have been any reason to google anything?
Just maybe...
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Nitch the Google T Shirt
It wouldn't be a lie..The A****** did kill two people of authority.
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I'll say it's convoluted! Sounds like a plot for a bad Fox TV show. Oh wait...
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It's the readers...
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It may not be Google's fault, but it does show fau
Basically this allows news articles (that get linked to a lot) move up the Google pagerank ladder faster than the site people are actually searching for.
Google is not to blame for anything, but their search engine rankings are seriously flawed. Perhaps the sites that don't try so hard are the ones who deserve to be on top. After all, they generally, are the most relevant result.
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Technology and Misplaced blame
Increasingly, we see examples where people want to blame websites and large corporations for social problems that have existed for centuries.
For example; There are many that want to blame "Myspace" for the actions of child molesters. They claim that Myspace should provide security and make it so children cannot be harmed. While the intent of protecting children is a necessary and human thing to do, the blame shouldn't be placed on Myspace. For a moment, let's compare apples to apples. So many times, we have heard examples where children have been abducted from playgrounds all across the country. Should we blame playgrounds and say that swings and merry-go-rounds lend itself to child molestation? No, we don't. Is it practical to assign a police officer to every playground 24 hours a day? No, it is not. The real problem lies in the actions of underage patrons of Myspace and their parents. Children lie about their ages and parents do not pay enough attention to what their children are doing. If Myspace is responsible for children lying and parents not parenting, what was the excuse for child abductions pre-internet?
Myspace is no different and Google is no different. These are merely tools used to socialize and do business and productivity and ease of use also have their price. Every decision made or not made has it's pros and cons and with this in mind, we must weigh if the pros outweigh the cons.
In summary, we cannot blame Google and Myspace for societies social problems and certainly should not misplace blame. Our brains are wired to protect itself emotionally and physically. I can understand why it is easier to blame others and not yourself. But this doesn't mean this is right. When we decide to examine the root causes and become less defensive about our own inequities, we will see that the blame lies within all of us. So, if we read an article about murder and associate that murder to where someone's second cousin's uncle's father worked, we are to blame for being prejudice and lacking perspective.
Note to restaurant owner: Deep pockets do not imply guilty. If you plan to hold Google liable you must also blame all other forms of media whether it be radio, t.v., or newspaper. Considering your wife is the one who associated the restaurant's name with the murder, you are indeed at fault. Own up to your family's mistake and quit trying to blame Google or the world for your own inequitities.
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What about MSN search?
http://search.live.com/news/results.aspx?q=%22Ceritano's%20Restaurant%22&FORM=BNRE
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